Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
The Greenland Sea is often viewed as the northern terminus of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. It has also been proposed that the shutdown of open-ocean deep convection in the Labrador or Greenland Seas would substantially weaken the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Here...
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
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Language: | English |
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2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00182-y |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_24474 2024-04-14T08:07:55+00:00 Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Zhang, Rong (author) Thomas, Matthew (author) 2021-12-08 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00182-y en eng Communications Earth & Environment--Commun Earth Environ--2662-4435 Supporting Data for "Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation"--10.5281/zenodo.4592442 Meridional overturning circulation and the associated heat and freshwater transports observed by the OSNAP (Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) Array from 2014 to 2016--10.7924/r4z60gf0f articles:24474 doi:10.1038/s43247-021-00182-y ark:/85065/d79k4fn6 Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. article Text 2021 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00182-y 2024-03-21T18:00:26Z The Greenland Sea is often viewed as the northern terminus of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. It has also been proposed that the shutdown of open-ocean deep convection in the Labrador or Greenland Seas would substantially weaken the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Here we analyze Robust Diagnostic Calculations conducted in a high-resolution global coupled climate model constrained by observed hydrographic climatology to provide a holistic picture of the long-term mean Atlantic Overturning Circulation at northern high latitudes. Our results suggest that the Arctic Ocean, not the Greenland Sea, is the northern terminus of the mean Atlantic Overturning Circulation; open-ocean deep convection, in either the Labrador or Greenland Seas, contributes minimally to the mean Atlantic Overturning Circulation, hence it would not necessarily be substantially weakened by a shutdown of open-ocean deep convection; horizontal circulation across sloping isopycnals contributes substantially (more than 40%) to the maximum mean northeastern subpolar Atlantic Overturning Circulation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Greenland Sea OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Communications Earth & Environment 2 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
The Greenland Sea is often viewed as the northern terminus of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. It has also been proposed that the shutdown of open-ocean deep convection in the Labrador or Greenland Seas would substantially weaken the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Here we analyze Robust Diagnostic Calculations conducted in a high-resolution global coupled climate model constrained by observed hydrographic climatology to provide a holistic picture of the long-term mean Atlantic Overturning Circulation at northern high latitudes. Our results suggest that the Arctic Ocean, not the Greenland Sea, is the northern terminus of the mean Atlantic Overturning Circulation; open-ocean deep convection, in either the Labrador or Greenland Seas, contributes minimally to the mean Atlantic Overturning Circulation, hence it would not necessarily be substantially weakened by a shutdown of open-ocean deep convection; horizontal circulation across sloping isopycnals contributes substantially (more than 40%) to the maximum mean northeastern subpolar Atlantic Overturning Circulation. |
author2 |
Zhang, Rong (author) Thomas, Matthew (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
spellingShingle |
Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_short |
Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_full |
Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_fullStr |
Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_sort |
horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern atlantic meridional overturning circulation |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00182-y |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Greenland Sea |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Greenland Sea |
op_relation |
Communications Earth & Environment--Commun Earth Environ--2662-4435 Supporting Data for "Horizontal circulation across density surfaces contributes substantially to the long-term mean northern Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation"--10.5281/zenodo.4592442 Meridional overturning circulation and the associated heat and freshwater transports observed by the OSNAP (Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) Array from 2014 to 2016--10.7924/r4z60gf0f articles:24474 doi:10.1038/s43247-021-00182-y ark:/85065/d79k4fn6 |
op_rights |
Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00182-y |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1796305344428769280 |